One challenge facing an information technology manager is managing an enterprise system, application, and/or network, especially when same becomes larger and more complex. In particular, it is to be appreciated that more of such enterprise systems, applications, and/or networks are shifting from a client-server model to a distributed network computing architecture. That is, more computing systems are arranged to operate on multiple computing machines networked together, where the machines need not necessarily be in the same location and in fact may be distributed remotely from each other. Such distributed computing systems have promised to make servers work together seamlessly as a unit, yielding better fault-tolerance and easier, less-expensive scalability than can be achieved with a physically centralized computing environment.
However, and significantly, managing such a distributed computing system is a challenge, especially if the system includes machines having diverse environments, including varying operating systems, devices, protocols, and client technologies. In such a situation, troubleshooting and repairing malfunctioning hardware and software component problems may be difficult, especially when a problem relates to the interaction between multiple computing machines and/or processes. In short, collecting event data and the like from multiple computing machines and organizing the collected data in a coherent manner has not heretofore been done.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system manager to simplify and facilitate network management of a distributed computing system including a group of computing machines. More particularly, a need exists for such a system manager that facilitates testing and monitoring and administering of such a computing system, and that also diagnoses problems that arise during operation of such a computing system, all by collecting, collating, and analyzing relevant performance data from machines in the system.